usbandry, are as nothing to this lump in my
hand. What do you call the field we're now standing in?"

"Parc Dew."

"Exactly--the 'black field,' or the 'field of black soil': the very name
should have told you. But you lay it down in grass, and but for the
chance of this spud and a lucky thistle, I might have walked over it a
score of times without guessing its secret. Man alive, it's red gold I
have here--red, wicked, damnable, delicious gold--the root of all evil
and of most joys."

"If you lie, you lie enticingly, young man."

"By gold, I mean stuff that shall make gold for you. There is ore here,
but what ore exactly I can't tell till I've streamed it: lead, I fancy,
with a trace of silver--wealth for you, certainly; and in what quantity
you shall find out--"

At this juncture a voice was heard calling over the hedge, at the bottom
of the field. It came from Young Zeb, the upper part of whose person,
as he stood up in his cart, was just visible between two tamarisk
bushes.

"Ru-b-y-y-y!"

"Drat the chap!" exclaimed Ruby's father, wheeling round sharply.
"What d'ye wa-a-a-nt?" he yelled back.

"Come to know 'bout that chest o' dra-w-w-ers!"

"Then come 'long round by th' ga-a-ate!"

"Can't sta-a-ay! Want to know, as I'm drivin' to Liskeard, if Ruby
thinks nine-an'-six too mu-u-ch, as the twiddles be so very cle-v-ver!"

"How ridiculous!" muttered the stranger, just loud enough for Ruby to
hear. "Who is this absurd person?"

Jim Lewarne answered--"A low-lived chap, mister, as saved your skin
awhile back."

"Dear, dear--how unpardonable of me! I hadn't, the least idea at this
distance. Excuse me, I must go and thank him at once."

He moved towards the hedge with a brisk step that seemed to cost him
some pain. The others followed, a pace or two behind.

"You'll not mind my interruptin', Farmer," continued Young Zeb,
"but 'tis time Ruby made her mind up, for Mister Pennyway won't take a
stiver less. 'Mornin', Ruby, my dear."

"And you'll forgive me if I also interrupt," put in the stranger, with
the pleasantest smile, "but it is time I thanked the friend who saved my
life on Monday morning. I would come round and shake hands if only I
could see the gate."

"Don't 'ee mention it," replied Zeb, blushing hotly. "I'm glad to mark
ye lookin' so brave a'ready. Well, what d'ye say, Ruby?"

"I say 'please yoursel'.'"

For of the two men standing before Ruby (she did not count her father
and